Hurry! Merge! Then prepare to navigate the new slot canyon from Route 16 to I-5 in Tacoma

Highway 16 detours will test drivers’ courtesy and patience.

Take a ride through the new three-lane merge from Union Avenue to eastbound Highway 16, through the construction "canyon," and onto southbound Interstate 5.
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Take a ride through the new three-lane merge from Union Avenue to eastbound Highway 16, through the construction "canyon," and onto southbound Interstate 5.
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A temporary traffic revision to the state Route 16-Interstate 5 interchange is both frustrating and exhilarating drivers.

As part of the state Department of Transportation’s ongoing commuter lane construction in Tacoma, the Sprague Avenue on-ramp to southbound I-5 is temporarily closed. Traffic now enters Route 16 via Union Avenue and must cross three lanes before getting into the two lanes that exit to southbound I-5.

If traffic is thick, that can be a harrowing experience.

“I almost got taken out by a city of Tacoma truck as he barreled over to go northbound,” Tacoma driver Liz Wishaw said Wednesday on Facebook.

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Drivers have less than 1,500 feet on Route 16 to merge from the Union on-ramp to the southbound I-5 exit. That exit will one day become a single HOV lane with wide shoulders. Now, it’s two lanes of general traffic.

Once traffic gets in those exit lanes, drivers get an eye-popping ride through the heart of Nalley Valley. The road dips below giant overpasses and then cuts through a narrow, concrete, slot canyon before joining up with southbound I-5 south of South 38th Street.

During the overnight closures, traffic from southbound I-5 will not be able to exit on either Route 16 or South 38th Street. Drivers can detour to South 56th Street and then head north on I-5 to access Route 16 or South 38th Street.

Sprague Avenue should reopen in June along with newly built collector and distributor lanes from Route 16 to I-5, WSDOT said.